PESHAWAR: After recording the highest coronavirus case fatality rate in the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has turned out to be home to more Covid-19 critical cases than any other province.

The doctors say they’re struggling to ascertain factors for the worrying situation.

According to the World Health Organisation’s report issued on April 10, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has 620 confirmed Covid-19 cases. Of them, 201 were admitted to health centres, while the condition of 181 is stable and that of 20 critical. The number of critical cases is higher than other provinces’.

The virus has claimed 22 lives in the province.

The report shows that Punjab has recorded the most confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country i.e. 2,279. The province admitted 745 patients. Of them, the condition of 740 is stable and that of five critical. Eighteen people have so far died of the virus in the province.

Doctors call for central authority to supervise situation in every hospital

Sindh has 1,128 active Coviod-19 cases. A total of 322 patients were admitted to health centres and 304 of them are in stable condition and 18 in critical. The coronavirus deaths reported in the province until now total 21.

Islamabad has recorded 107 confirmed virus cases. Eighteen of them were hospitalised. The condition of 17 is stable and that of one critical. Only one Islamabad resident has died of the virus.

Gilgit-Baltistan has registered 215 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 14 of them were admitted to hospitals. They all are in stable condition. The region has recorded three deaths.

The number of virus cases in Balochistan total 219. Of them, 70 were admitted to health centres with 69 being in stable condition and one in critical one. One death by the virus has been reported in the province.

In Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 33 residents have been diagnosed with Covid-19. Of them, 32 were admitted to hospitals. Only one of them is in critical condition. The virus has claimed no life in the region.

Until April 10, Pakistan recorded 4601 Covid-19 cases. Of them, 1,402 were admitted to health centres. A total of 1,357 are in stable condition and 45 in critical one. The deaths by virus total 66.

The countrywide case fatality rate (CFR) is 1.43 percent with the highest being reported in KP (3.5 percent) followed by Sindh (1.7pc), GB (1.3pc), Punjab (0.8pc) and Balochistan (0.5pc).

The infected people aged below 50 years accounted for 70 percent of the total tally.

The percentage of the local virus transmission was 48.

According to the doctors, there are many factors behind the situation.

It is important to know about the age range of patient from different provinces as we know advanced age puts patients in bad prognostic category. Also, the co-morbidities or the associated diseases like high blood pressure, heart, lungs and chest diseases makes Covid-19 patients prone to more complications.

The doctors told Dawn that the problem of more serious patients as well as CFR could be attributed to the Medical Teaching Institutions Reforms Act, 2015, enforced in the province’s teaching hospitals, which catered to the bulk of Covid-19 patients.

They said under the mechanism, the hospitals were being run by fourexecutives and hordes of managers at a time, which was also not helpful for patient care.

The doctors said there was a need for a central authority to supervise the situation in every hospital to do away with different hierarchy structure in which the staff reported to different administrators in the same hospitals.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2020